Francesco "Frankie" Giardini

ATTRIBUTES

Specialties:
Dexterity: Quick on his feet
Manipulation: Silver-Tongued

Languages Known:
English
Italian

Merits & Flaws:
Made Man (WoD: Mafia p. 84): Frankie is a "Made Man" within the Mafia.  His name is on the books; he's considered untouchable.  Of course, this isn't inv incibility--as the book says, sometimes retribution on your behalf is p osthumous--but it means that he has the weight of the mob's pro tection weighing in his favor.

Gall (Kinfolk: Unsung Heroe s p. 52): Francesco has balls, that's for sure.  Part of his attitude is that he's known for so long that he's the man...this is the life he was destined for, even if he had to earn it.  And he has earned it, which means he doesn't take shit from anyone.  +1 dice to any Social roll involving a display of backbone.

Intolerance: Shadow Lords: Ever since he learned about the Garou via the betrayal of Michael Dufresne (see below), Frankie has always had an issue with Shadow Lords.  They're untrustworthy, deceitful, honorless bastardos who don't understand omerta in any w ay, shape, or form.  And as such, he has no respect for them.

Enemy: Michael Dufresne's sibling, Valencio, didn't take to the whole situation that cost his brother his life.  He can't go after Stefano, and due to Francesco's status, he can't go directly after him .  But he can go after him indirectly, and he has, on many occasions.  The two despise each other with a passion, and their vendetta has caused the deaths of many underlings.  Valencio is a Trueborn, a Shadow Lord Galliard.

Backgrounds:

Allies: Frankie's allies represent his associates within the Giardini family; the people he can call on in times of need.

Mentor: His mentor equates to his relationship with his father, Stefano Giardini, a capo bastone for the Giardinis in Washington, D.C.  While Stefano can provide no direct aid, he can provide advice, and possibly indirect help.

Status: His status is Family Status (WoD: Mafia , p. 83-84), equating to the rank of caporegime, or Lieutenant .  He's in charge of a crew here in New York.

Influence: Francesco's Influence is Underworld, based on his status w ithin the Mafia. Contacts: His contacts are partially Glass Walker-based, partially Mafia-based.  One is a Glass Walker from New York (allowing you to decide who/what), who he uses to keep up-to-date on Tribal News.  One is a cop on the Organized Crime unit, a gift from his father, that gives him someone in the know there.  The last is a man at the docks who alerts him to any strange things coming into port.

Description: 
Lean and hungry. Poised and dangerous. That’s the words that come to mind when looking upon him. He cuts a striking figure, standing just under six feet and weighing around 160 to 170 pounds. He has a full face, just a hint of tan to otherwise fair skin, frame by shortly cropped, brown hair, a professional cut. Brown eyes carry a look of cocky intelligence to them…this isn’t some mook off the street, this man was born into greatness, and he knows it. He’s dressed in a Italian wool suit, charcoal grey, with vest and a silk tie. Black cap shoes complete the ensemble. He’s got an attitude to him…a look that’s not quite arrogance, not quite simple confidence, but somewhere in between. The world is his…it just needs to realize it.

Weapons:
A pair of Brass Knuckles (Diff 6, Damage Str+1)
Colt M1911A (Diff 6, Damage 5, Range 25, Rate 3, Clip 7, Conceal J)

In addition, through his influence, Frankie has access to other weapons, should he need them.

Equipment:
A 2006 Volkswagon Jetta, Platinum Grey, with OnStar, Sirius Satellite Radio.
A large, comfortable home in Bronxville, NY, an upscale residential neighborhood.
Dell XPS M140 laptop, Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (2GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB), Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Wireless Card, 80 GB HD, 2 GB RAM
Nokia Camera Cell Phone, non-flip, with video capability, through T-Mobile

History:
Some people have life easy. Everything in the world just floats by for them…they succeed without ever really trying. All the doors open at the right times; all the right people are there, willing to help when needed. These people often end up at the top of their field, thanks to the opportunities that they get.

Frankie Giardini HATES those people.

Don’t get him wrong. It’s not bitterness makes him hate these people…it’s their own laziness, the fact that they don’t appreciate what they have. After all, Frankie can’t exactly claim to have had the worst life in the world himself. But still, everything he ever got, he fought, scraped, and struggled for. His father wouldn’t have had it any other way. Stefano Giardini was one the capo bastone for the Giardini crime family in Washington, D.C. Working underneath Don Emilio, Stefano had a reputation for the old “harsh but fair” routine. An honorable man, he directed the caporegimes below him with an efficiency that earned him a fair amount of respect among the family. He also held each and every one of them to the code of omerta…to be expected, of course. But Stefano held it to a strictness not seen in the modern day. Keep your mouth shut. The Family is everything. And you solve your own damn problems.

Stefano also enforced this code on his own, more immediate family; particularly Francesco. The young boy was, from birth, obviously being groomed to become part of the Family. His father made him aware of the Giardini’s less legitimate connections from an early age, teaching him the harsh realities of life in the Mafia. At eight years of age, Frankie performed his first removal, when one of the caporegimes who had told a friend some of the more intimate details of his activities had to be gotten rid of. Stefano had the man brought into his office, beaten and bloody. He told Frankie what the man had done, and how this broke omerta. He explained, while the man spat up blood that was far to bright to be from anything but internal injuries, that the man was a traitor to the family, and that he had endangered everyone by his thoughtless acts. Stefano placed the gun in Frankie’s hand, and guided it to the man’s chest. The man begged for his life, and Frankie looked up at his father, confused and frightened. Stefano merely told Frankie, calmly and sternly, to do it, for the family. With the father holding the gun to prevent kickback, the son put two bullets into the man’s heart. From that point on, Frankie was raised not his mother’s son. He was his father’s.

Stefano was very proud of his son, but when Frankie screwed up, the man spared him nothing. Frankie was placed in a crew at fourteen, and was expected to pull his weight. He got no special treatment for being who he was…in fact many times, Frankie thought he had it a hell of a lot harder, as he was given the hardest jobs and got the no more recognition for performing them then others did. Of course, he never saw the things behind the scenes, where Stefano was keeping him protected from others, as if he was already made. Frankie never knew how no one made a move on him when they otherwise would have, because they knew if they did, the capo bastone would destroy them. So Frankie went on, and proved himself quite the little crew runner. His rise through the ranks was based on his own merit, not that of his father, and that is a lesson he learned very strongly: While the Family is there for you, ultimately, you are made or broken on your own merits, not another’s.

What he didn’t learn until much later was exactly how important his family was.

In 1994, Frankie was working at a Family-owned casino, learning the ropes of the financial end of the business. The seventeen-year-old was getting just a little bit cocky, and he didn’t get along with the guy in charge of the casino, Michael Dufresne, at all. Michael was not part of the family by blood, but was a made man, long-since retired from the more violent aspects of the business. He very much resented Frankie’s status, and firmly believed the boy’s rise to be completely a result of his blood relations. He put Frankie through hell, and Frankie didn’t react well to it. He told his father, but Stefano merely told Frankie that “Sometimes, you have to deal with people you don’t like. Even they are to be treated with respect; particularly a man like Michael Dufresne.” Frankie gritted his teeth and nodded, going along with it. Things progressed, albeit rockily, throughout the four months he was there, until one day, Frankie showed up to work early. He made his way up to the office, and went to open the door…before he could reach it however, he heard something that made his blood run could. It was a laugh…Michael’s laugh. He had never heard the man laugh before; it was a dark, ugly sound, and Frankie recognized it, instinctually, as just…wrong. He stopped, listening, as Michael spoke with the other person in the room, a man Michael called Enzio. Frankie knew him by reputation…Enzio was a caporegime from the Putansecas, a family the Giardinis was constantly in conflict with. Frankie stood there, his eyes wide, as he heard them discuss a plan to eliminate his father and frame him for it.

Frankie crept away from the door, ran to the front of the club, and called his father. Stefano listened very calmly, and told Frankie to wait there, and call back if either of them left; he would be there shortly. Frankie waited outside of the club, trying to act cool, chatting with the bodyguard. Minutes passed…soon, it was a half-hour. Then an hour. Still, no one had left. Frankie’s nerves were totally shot…and he almost jumped when his cell phone rang. He picked up, and it was his father. He told Frankie to come upstairs, into the office. Confused, Frankie headed up…and found Michael and Enzio, both being held by people he recognized, but only barely. Both were beaten and bloody; Michael’s head was bowed, while Enzio was just…inhuman. Literally. He was struggling against his captor, shrieking and howling, fangs bared. Stefano stood in front of the desk, naked from the waist up, claw marks on his torso. He quite calmly explained to his stunned son the truth of their family…the Giardini were Garou, a family within the Glass Walker tribe. Michael was a Shadow Lord who had been working for Stefano for some time…Enzio was a creature of the Wyrm, a vampire, like much of the Putanesca. Michael had fallen to the Wyrm, and was trying to betray them. He had broken the only thing more important then omerta. He had broken his vow to Gaia. He handed Frankie a gun with silver inside it. This time, Frankie needed no one to hold his hand. He put three bullets into Michael Dufresne’s head, and then used his own gun to put three into Enzio’s.

From that point forward, Frankie was a made man. He was put in charge of the casino, and did an excellent job running it. He slowly made the ascent toward prominence within the Family. In the meantime, his father taught him the ways of the Litany, and how he, as kinfolk, was to act in accordance with Gaia’s laws. In this, as in everything, Frankie got no breaks…everything was once again his to lose or win. And again, he excelled. There were punishments, to be sure, and harsh they were. However, for the most part, the attitude that Frankie had learned before his induction into the shadow world of the Garou served equally well in this new aspect of his life. Stefano oversaw this aspect of his life more personally then he had Frankie’s raising in the Family…he had to. Few others within Washington’s Giardini were aware of that particular aspect of his existence.

In 2001, Frankie had his opportunity. One of the caporegimes was sent to prison after being caught with several stolen trucks, and Frankie was the best person for the job. In Frankie’s mind, he’d been the best person for the job several other times, and had been passed over; this time, though, he found his efforts bear fruit. He was put in charge of a small crew, dealing mostly with running illegal product in and out of the city. This new challenge was something he threw himself into, and after a few “learning experiences,” which left him battered and bruised--physically and emotionally—but wiser, he settled into his position, doing quite the serviceable job.

Unfortunately for him, his replacement only did four years, and when he came back, he was given his old position back in the family. Frankie was placed in the man’s second position, a move which bristled him to no end. However, he understood that the Family was more important, and as much as he thought he was better-suited to the position—after all, he never fucked up and went to jail—he trusted in his father’s wisdom, and knew his next opportunity would come.

And it did. In late October, 2005, word came down to Stefano that the Family had been dealt a massive blow in New York City. It was an important city…one where they couldn’t afford to lose power. Frankie was the perfect choice…skilled, ambitious, honorable, without attachments. He was sent up there, with instructions to report to the head of the family, whoever remained, in the city. He has just arrived, and is looking to find out what happened. And he pities whoever took them out. They were about to learn the meaning of the word “vendetta.”